To the editor:

From 2001-2008, President G.W. Bush showed an amazing incompetence as he allowed his vice president to run the country and the neocons to lead the U.S. into an unnecessary war. However, we were all too polite and too respectful of the office to use the word “incompetent” to describe him in public. The headline writer for Charles Krauthammer’s Sept. 13 column showed no reservations in using that word to describe President Obama, even though the columnist only used that word to describe his opinion of current diplomatic efforts in Syria.

Since 2008, President Obama has faced continual opposition from the infighting of the GOP isolationists, GOP neocons and anti-government tea party members. He has tried to work with Congress to improve the bad economy he inherited, while at the same time juggling crisis after crisis arriving almost daily from the Middle East. You may disagree with any statement, any policy or any decision this president makes, but you may not call this president incompetent! If you have not read his “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope,” do so before making future judgments about him. Having lived under 11 other presidents, I believe that President Barack Obama is the most competent of them all.